Anywho, the kids! When we left them way back in Eureka, we realized it was unlikely that we would see them again. I was mentally kicking myself forwards and backwards for not getting contact info from Allie or Tim, their leaders, especially since we were all due to arrive in San Francisco on the 8th.
So when we ended up in the same campsite at Standish-Hickey, we thanked our lucky stars! And I slipped Allie a note with our Grand Plan.
We had decided that it would be a lot of fun to surprise them at the Golden Gate Bridge with cookies, to celebrate their arrival and spoil them a bit for all the laughs and help they gave us. I gave Allie my number and told her to text me with an eta...and to keep it hushed from the kids, just in case the plan fell through.
So on the morning of the 8th, we headed to the Bridge with 50 chocolate chip cookies. We got caught in traffic on the way and I was starting to stress that we wouldn't make it in time. Happily, we made it with plenty of time to spare. We took in the view, people watched, (got horribly sunburned), took pictures, and scanned the Bridge every 5 minutes, looking for the collection of orange flags that would indicated their arrival.
And then we saw them. Or rather, saw their flags bobbing against the blue sky and red bridge. I started bouncing up and down and had to refrain from screaming APOGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! at the top of my lungs and spoiling the surprise. Allie kept the kids distracted as we walked up, cookies in hand. We got lots of happy (if a bit tired) smiles, laughs and shouts.
But my favorite reaction was Emma's. Zac and I were in civvies, rather than our biking gear, no bikes in site, no helmets on our heads. Hannah had seen us and said hi...and Emma and I made eye contact, she smiled vacantly, and looked away.
And then it clicked.
Her head snapped back around, eyes opened wide, jaw dropped, and she started shrieking at the top of her lungs in excitement. They pulled us in for hugs and more screaming (possibly right in my ear...) and laughing and it was WONDERFUL. It was even better a reaction than I could have hoped for, and it absolutely made my day.
So we got a chance to catch up once more, swap tales of our final days (turns out Jessie hit the same crack in the road between Albion and Elk that took me and Zac down) and take some more group pictures. It was AWESOME.
Happy Trails, Apogee - y'all are going to remain part of some of my favorite memories of this trip! <3
Yay! I'm glad it worked out. It's fun to surprise people like that.
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